


a question of the heart

by bugmadoo



Series: Robron Week 2017 [1]
Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Pillow Talk, Robron Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-27
Updated: 2017-02-27
Packaged: 2018-09-27 06:56:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9981800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bugmadoo/pseuds/bugmadoo
Summary: Robert, Aaron and Liv come back from parent’s evening and it leads to a conversation.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Robron Week Day 1: Family

Robert is the last one to walk through the door of the Mill and he closes it behind him. He presses himself back against the door so he doesn’t accidentally knock over Aaron who’s bending over to take off his shoes. Liv’s boots and jacket are already off, but she’s still standing at the end of the corridor, watching both of them and looking slightly nervous.

“Well, we survived another parents’ evening,” Robert says, trying to ease the look on her face.

Aaron straightens up and throws Robert and irritated glance before turning towards Liv and taking off his jacket.

“Thanks for, you know, sticking up for me,” she says eventually, looking at the floor.

Aaron gives Liv that look, the one that breaks Robert’s heart because it’s Aaron seeing himself in Liv.

“Come here,” Aaron says and Liv latches onto him, burying her face on Aaron’s chest. Robert steps closer to the pair of them and puts a hand on Liv’s back. Aaron gives him a grateful smile.

“You don’t have to thank us for that Liv,” Robert says, lifting his hand and brushing it over her head.

“Yeah, it’s our job to look out for you.” Aaron rests his cheek on top of Liv’s head.

“Still,” Liv says but it’s muffled against the fabric of Aaron’s jumper.

Robert hears a sniffle before Liv tears herself away, her eyes jumping between the two of them, but eventually landing on Aaron. “I’m going to bed.”

“Do you need anything?” Aaron asks

“Yeah, tea or something?” Robert adds.

“No, I’m fine,” Liv says, a smile slowly creeping up her lips again, “I’ll just go to sleep.”

“Alright. Goodnight, Liv.”

“Night, Robert.”

“Goodnight.”

They watch her as she turns the corner towards the stairs and disappears.

Aaron sighs. “You really shouldn’t have yelled at the vice principal, Robert.”

“I know,” Robert admits, looking down for a second as he shifts his weight, “I just couldn’t help myself.”

“I know.” Aaron gives him a short smile and takes his hand, tugging him forward, and they make their way to their bedroom.

“I know Liv’s attendance is atrocious but they don’t need to talk about her as if all she does is cause trouble.”

“I know, Robert. If you hadn’t said anything I would have.”

Robert lets out a long breath and tries to shake off the residual anger from the parents’ evening as he unbuttons his shirt and starts undressing for bed. The evening didn’t even start out as bad and Robert thinks that Liv might have to do a thing or two with the fact they talked to her favourite teacher first. Art hadn’t been the subject Robert expected Liv to excel in when he’d first met her, but he’s seen her creations and even he can see that she has talent. Unfortunately, not others had joined the praise from Liv’s art teacher.

Robert is taking off his socks while looking for a t-shirt to sleep in when Aaron speaks again.

“She thought Liv was your daughter.”

He turns around and sees that Aaron’s pulling down his jeans, looking at Robert. “What? Who?”

“You know,” Aaron says throwing the jeans to the chair standing in the corner of their room, “that woman who came up to me after we talked to Liv’s English teacher?”

“Not, really, no.”

Aaron huffs a laugh. “You were probably too busy mouthing off about the teachers with Liv.”

“Probably,” Robert grins. He sits on the bed, facing Aaron on the other side.

“Anyway,” Aaron says, pulling down the duvet and sitting on the bed, looking at his hands, “she asked me if I was Liv’s brother and made some comment about Liv’s dad being here. Took me a moment to realise she meant you.”

“That’s … strange. Did she not see our wedding rings or what?”

“I guess not.”

Robert goes to turn off the light while Aaron climbs into bed, Robert’s small bedside lamp now the only thing illuminating the room. It casts soft shadows over Aaron’s body and Robert can’t help but think how beautiful Aaron looks like this and _God_ Robert just loves him.

He climbs into the bed and pulls the duvet up over both of them. Aaron scoots closer and Robert turns on his side so they’re facing each other. Robert shakes his head.

“What?” Aaron asks.

“Me, Liv’s dad.”

“She’d hate it.”

Robert smiles. “She probably would.”

He lifts his hand and cups Aaron’s cheek, brushes over the tired circles below Aaron’s eyes.

“Makes you think what an actual child of ours would look like, doesn’t it?” Robert grins, and suddenly there are images of blonde children with blue eyes dancing in his head.

Aaron puts his hand on the nape of Robert’s neck and pulls him closer, making the unnecessary distance between their lips disappear. The kiss is sweet, so much so that Robert thinks he can actually taste it on his tongue if he concentrates hard enough. Their lips move slowly against each other, the intention behind it more important than the kiss itself.

Aaron breaks the kiss but he doesn’t go far. In fact, he’s still close enough that Robert feels Aaron’s breath wash over his face with every exhale and Robert feels the warmth of it all over his body.

“Do you think about that?” Aaron asks, voice barely above a whisper.

“About what?”

Aaron waits for a moment before he answers. “Us having children.”

Robert takes a deep breath. The words sink into his cells like a warm shower.

“I …” Robert starts but stops himself. He feels as if all of his words got stolen and now there are none of them left for him to use.

“We probably should have talked about this stuff before we got married,” Aaron interrupts, scratching his nose.

“That would have been the first time we did anything in the right order, Aaron,” Robert laughs.

It earns him a chuckle from Aaron but his face quickly turns serious again, the lines on his forehead deep and concerned. He meets Roberts eyes for a second before he looks down again.

He wants to say something, wants to reassure Aaron, but he still can’t find any words. He thinks the feeling in his chest definitely doesn’t mean that he’s against the idea, though.

“Do _you_ want us to have children?” Robert breaks the silent between them. It almost feels like a cop-out even though he’s continuing the conversation.

Aaron looks at him again, silent, and Robert picks up the movement of brushing his thumb over Aaron’s cheekbone again, tangling their legs together.

“I can’t really,” Aaron waves his hand,” picture it I guess.”

Robert nods, encouraging Aaron to continue.

“Every time I think about us and kids, I end up thinking about my own childhood.” Robert opens his mouth to interrupt him but Aaron quickly keeps going. “I _know_ it’d be different with us, I know, but … I can’t help it.”

Robert leans his forehead against Aaron’s and whispers, “I get that.”

“Plus, there’s Liv and all,” Aaron says, leaving the sentence hanging unfinished, but Robert knows anyway.

“We did alright with Liv though, didn’t we?” He can’t help the smile at the thought of their little family unit.

“Maybe yeah,” Aaron says, “but she was fourteen already when she came to us. That’s got to be completely different than raising a baby or a toddler.”

“It probably is, yeah,” Robert says.

He closes the distance between them and their lips connect, sweet as honey. Robert runs his hand from Aaron’s cheek, over the back of his head down to his shoulder to squeeze it reassuringly.

Robert is hyper-aware of the fact that he hasn’t answered Aaron’s initial question. He searches for them and he’s glad to see that he thinks he can scramble something together now.

“I’d love to expand our little family one day, I think. But it’s not something I’ve thought about much because I already have everything I need right here.”

“Soft,” Aaron says, smiling. Robert is glad to see it and joins him.

“I love you,” Robert replies, and kisses Aaron’s lips again.

They look at each other in the dull shine of Robert’s bedside lamp and Robert marvels at the fact that Aaron’s eyes always look a different shade of blue depending on where they are. Right now they’re the shade that reminds Robert of warm summer nights spent in bed together.

“Alright?” Robert asks.

Aaron nods, smiling, then closes his eyes. Robert takes a moment to look at Aaron’s relaxed face for a moment, drinking him in because he can never get enough. He reaches behind him, turns the lamp off, settles down as close to Aaron as possible and closes his eyes, taking a deep breath, relaxing.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! You can find me over at [softrobertsugden.tumblr.com](http://softrobertsugden.tumblr.com)


End file.
